Method and apparatus for treatment of respiratory disease

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for treating respiratory disease is disclosed. An aerosol generator provides an initial aerosol having an initial oxygen concentration and humidity. Adaptor means are provided to introduce additional oxygen to the aerosol to increase the oxygen concentration so as to provide the specific oxygen concentration required by the patient.

United States Patent Barnes June 6, 1972 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR [56] References Cited TREATIVIENT OF RESPIRATORY UNITED S'IA'I'ES PATENTS DISEASE 2,572,199 10/1951 Richards ..261/63 72 inventor; David I Barnes Springfield, Ohio 3,206,175 9/1965 Boteler ..26l/16 2,709,577 5/1955 Pohndorf et a]. ..261/2 Assignee: a Grossi, Carrollton. Ohio a p 2,040,630 5/1936 Silten 128/173 R interest Primary Examiner-Charles F. Rosenaum [22] Flled' 1969 Assistant Examiner-J. B. Mitchell [21] Appl. No.: 876,660 Attorney-Eugene C. Goodale [57] ABSTRACT A method and apparatus for treating respiratory disease is disclosed. An aerosol generator provides an initial aerosol having [52] US. Cl ..l28/194 an initial oxygen concentration and humidity Adaptor means [5 II.- Clare provided to introduce additional oxygen to the aerosol to Field Search 191 increase the oxygen concentration so as to provide the specific l28/193,195,196, 197,188,173 R, 186, 173.1, 184; 261/16, DIG; 34, DIG. 65; 260/104; 55/417 oxygen concentration required by the patient.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing figures PATENTEDJUN 5 me 42A 4 INVENTOR.

DAVID L. BARNES ATTORNEY FIG.5

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATNIENT OF RESPIRATORY DISEASE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Hospital patients suffering from acute and/or chronic pulmonary diseasehave as a major component of their disease problem a very large amount of very viscid, tenacious pulmonary mucous secretion. These same patients also very frequently have need of supplemental oxygen for support during acute episodes of their disease. To help loosen and evacuate the tenacious, viscid secretions it is necessary to provide a warm high-humidity aerosol for the patient to breathe. To prevent oxygen lack, it is necessary to provide reliable low to moderate concentrations of oxygen for the patient to breathe. It is necessary to closely control oxygen concentrations in order to provide the desired therapeutic effect while avoiding the harmful side effects of overoxygenating the patient with the possible consequence of loss of life. Thus,'to summarize, there exist two requirements, namely: (1) provision of a warm high-humidity aerosol and (2) provision of reliable low to moderate oxygen concentrations.

There exist on the market several aerosol generators which have the capability of delivering a warm high-humidity aerosol to the patient. These units are generally operated with 100 percent oxygen from the hospital piping system. These aerosol generators usually incorporate a diluter mechanism which enables them to reliably provide three concentrations of oxygen, namely: 40 percent, 70 percent, and 100 percent. These concentrations are too few in number to provide the necessary flexibility in selecting oxygen concentrations for the proper and efficient treatment of patients with respiratory disease. It is necessary to be able to reliably provide oxygen concentrations of from approximately 21 percent to 70 percent in increments of 1-2 percent concentration. Hence, if a patient only needs an oxygen concentration of 25 percent for proper treatment, providing an oxygen concentration of 40 percent does not provide an increased benefit and may, in some cases, be detrimental to the patient.

There are oxygen masks commercially available today which meet the necessary criteria regarding oxygen concentration. The fault with these units is that they are not able to provide the warm high-humidity aerosol required for proper treatment.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus to reliably provide variable oxygen concentrations in an aerosol for use in the treatment of respiratory diseases.

Another object of the present invention is to provide means for adapting existing medical nebulizer and humidifying apparatus for variable oxygen concentration use.

A further object of this invention is to provide means for adding variable oxygen concentrations to the nebulizing chamber without degrading efficiency of the aerosol generator.

A still further object of this invention is to provide means to allow oxygen to mix with the primary spray of the aerosol generator and maintain sufiicient high humidity for respiratory treatment.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus to reliably provide an aerosol for respiratory disease treatment in which the aerosol may have incremental oxygen concentrations from approximately 21 percent to 70 percent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides a method and apparatus for improved treatment of persons suffering from respiratory disease. An aerosol generator is powered by a source of compressed air in order to provide a high humidity aerosol having an initial low oxygen concentration. Means are provided to permit introduction of variable oxygen concentrations to the aerosol generator to mix with the high humidity aerosol in order to raise the oxygen concentration to the specific concentration demanded by the patient.

Other details, uses and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description of an exemplary embodiment thereof presented in the accompanying drawings proceeds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings show a present exemplary embodiment of this invention in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in elevation showing a typical operational setup of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a typical aerosol generator modified in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the oxygen adapter for this invention;

FIG. 4 is a elevational view of another oxygen adapter of this invention; and

FIG. 5 is a view in elevation showing a typical operational setup using the oxygen adapter of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS Reference is now made to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, which illustrate one exemplary embodiment of the improved treatment apparatus for respiratory disease which is designated generally by the reference numeral 10. The treatment apparatus is comprised of a humidifier apparatus, nebulizing apparatus, aerosol generator or the like 12. The apparatus 12 may be any commercially available apparatus such as the humidifier described in Boteler US. Pat. No. 3,206,175, for example.

The aerosol generator 12 comprises medication receptacle 14, a cap or cover 16, and the means (not shown) for producing an aerosol in a nebulizing chamber 18.

As best seen in the typical operational setup of FIG. 1, the primary source of power or gas for the apparatus 12 is from a cylinder 20 filled with compressed air. The cylinder 20 has an oxygen content of approximately 21 percent. The pressure of the gas from cylinder 20 is reduced by a regulator 22. A gauge 24 may indicate the pressure of the gas as it issues from the regulator 22, while a flow measuring device 26 may indicate the volume of gas being humidified. A compressed air conduit 28 connects the cylinder 20 with the aerosol generator 12 through an inlet port 30 in the cap 16.

In the illustrative embodiment shown, air from cylinder 20 passes through conduit 28 and inlet port 30 and mixes in a known manner with a medication solution 32 to form an aerosol mixture or vapor within chamber 18. The aerosol mixture has a high humidity and an initial low oxygen concentration which may be acceptable for some treatment applications. The aerosol mixture is transmitted from chamber 18 to a patient utilization device, such as a mask 34 through conduit 36 which interconnects mask 34 with an outlet port 38 of the apparatus 12. Mask 34 is of the loose fitting type which does not form a seal with the patients face. Thus, there is no need to worry about any excessive pressure build up in the generator 12.

Often it is necessary to raise the temperature of the aerosol mixture for patient comfort and to insure proper treatment. In this situation, an accessory port plug 40 may be removed from cap 16 and a commercially available heater, not shown, is inserted therein. The heater will insure that the aerosol is at the proper temperature.

In order to provide maximum efficiency and utility in the aerosol generator 12, it is necessary to add varying amounts of oxygen to the chamber 18 in order to increase the oxygen concentration of the aerosol. It is also necessary, in order to maintain the efficiency of the generator 12, that the oxygen be added in the chamber 18 rather than between the chamber and the patient utilization device 34 in order to allow the oxygen to mix with the primary aerosol or vapor of the generator 12 so as to maintain a sufficiently high humidity. Thus, a supplemental oxygen adaptor element 42 is inserted into a second accessory port in the cap 16. As seen in FIG. 3, the adapter element 42 has a tapered barbed end 44 for engagement with a conduit or tube 46. Conduit 46 interconnects the aerosol generator 12 with a supply source of oxygen 48. The oxygen source 48 may be an oxygen tank or a hospital oxygen piping system. A flow valve and gauge, shown generally as 50, permits control of the amount of oxygen added to the generator 12. Thus, the oxygen may be added to the chamber 18 in increments of l2 percent concentration. This enables an operator to reliably provide oxygen concentrations in the aerosol of from 21 percent to 70 percent. The oxygen adapter 42 has a bore therethrough so that oxygen from source 48 passes directly into chamber 18 for mixing with the primary aerosol or vapor. A seal, such as an O-ring 52, insures an airtight seal between the adapter 42 and the accessory port in clap 16.

Another exemplary embodiment of this invention is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. The aerosol generator illustrated in FIG. 5 is very similar to the aerosol generator 12; therefore, such generator will be designated generally by the reference numeral 12A and parts of the generator 12A and attached components which are very similar to the corresponding parts shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be designated by the same reference numeral also followed by the letter designation A" and not described again. The main difference between the aerosol generator 12A and the generator 12 is in the number of inlet ports thereto. In this embodiment, the generator 12A has a single inlet port 30A and an outlet port 38A. Conduit 28A is attached to inlet 30A and interconnects the generator 12A with a source of compressed air as previously described in order to form a primary aerosol or vapor within chamber 18A. A modified oxygen adapter element 42A is used in this operational setup. Adapter 42A attaches to the outlet 38A and is connected with conduit 36A providing a communication link between chamber 18A and the patient utilization means.

As best seen in FIG. 4, the adapter 42A includes a sidewardly extending element 54. The element 54 has a barbed and tapered end 44A for interconnection with an oxygen supplying conduit. In order to supply the oxygen directly to the chamber 18A, a conduit or tube 56 is connected with the bore which extends through the element 54. Hence, oxygen is supplied through conduit 46A, element 54 and the tube 56 directly to chamber 18A for mixing with the primary aerosol or vapor. Thus, the element 42A serves to supply the oxygen to the chamber 18A and also provides the outlet passage for transmitting the properly mixed aerosol to the conduit 36A. It is recognized, of course, that a heater may also be utilized in order to maintain the aerosol at the proper temperature. An accessory port may be provided for the heater. In operation, the necessary medication 32 is added to the receptacle 14 and cap 16 attached thereto. The inlet port is interconnected with a source a compressed air which will provide a high humidity vapor of aerosol in chamber 18 having an initial low oxygen concentration. The oxygen concentration of the aerosol within chamber 18 may be incrementally increased by adding oxygen directly to the chamber 18. This is accomplished by attaching the source of oxygen to an oxygen adapter 42 or 42A depending on the availability of accessory ports in the aerosol generator cap. Thus, the aerosol generator is powered with compressed air to provide an initial aerosol or vapor mixture and supplemental oxygen will be added to the mixture through the oxygen adapter element in a quantity sufficient to provide the specific concentration demanded by the patient.

It can be seen that it is now possible to provide an aerosol mix of specific oxygen concentrations in infinitely varying amounts which has not previously been possible. Thus, this invention enables an operator to provide a warm high-humidity aerosol having controlled variable oxygen concentrations in a reliable mix. This represents a very real and meaningful advance in the state-of-the-art and science of inhalation therapy.

While present exemplary embodiments of this invention have been illustrated and described, it will be recognized that this invention may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced by those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is: 1. In combination with an aerosol generator powered by source of compressed air and used in the treatment of respiratory disease. the aerosol generator having an aerosol chamber having a medicated fluid therein, the improvement in the generator to permit delivery of controlled oxygen concentrations with high humidity comprising:

a first inlet to the aerosol chamber extending into said medicated fluid, said inlet being connected with the source of compressed air to provide a primary aerosol in the aerosol chamber, said aerosol having a high humidity and initial low oxygen concentration due to the oxygen content of the compressed air;

a second inlet to the chamber above the level of the fluid in the chamber, said inlet being connected with a supply line from a controllable source of oxygen wherein the oxygen concentration of the aerosol in the aerosol chamber may be increased in proportion to the amount of oxygen supplied to the second inlet;

an oxygen adapter element having a lower portion for slidable insertion in said second inlet to protrude into the aerosol chamber and an upper portion to cooperatively interconnect with the source of oxygen supply line, said adapter element having a bore therethrough providing communication between the source of oxygen and the aerosol chamber wherein oxygen is delivered direct to the aerosol chamber to mix with the primary aerosol;

seal means about said lower portion to engage said second inlet and provide an airtight seal between said oxygen adapter element and the aerosol generator; and

an outlet from the chamber connected with a conduit interconnected with a patient utilization device, said outlet being in communication between the aerosol chamber and the conduit whereby the controlled oxygen concentrated aerosol may be transmitted from he chamber to the patient utilization device.

2. In combination with an aerosol generator powered by a source of compressed air and used in the treatment of respiratory disease, the aerosol generator having an aerosol chamber having a medicated fluid therein, the improvement in the generator to permit delivery of controlled oxygen concentrations with high humidity comprising:

a first inlet to the aerosol chamber extending into said medicated fluid, said inlet being connected with the source of compressed air to provide a primary aerosol in the aerosol chamber, said aerosol having a high humidity and initial low oxygen concentration due to the oxygen content of the compressed air;

an outlet from the chamber connected with a conduit interconnected with a patient utilization device;

an adapter member for cooperative engagement with the aerosol generator outlet, said adapter member having a passage therethrough and providing communication between the aerosol chamber and the patient utilization device;

a second inlet being formed in said adapter member, said inlet being connected with a supply line from a controllable source of oxygen; and

tube means extending from said second inlet through the passage and into the aerosol chamber and terminating above the level of the fluid in the chamber providing communication between the source of oxygen and the aerosol chamber wherein oxygen is delivered direct to the aerosol chamber to mix with the primary aerosol wherein the oxygen concentration of the aerosol in the aerosol chamber may be increased in proportion to the amount of oxygen supplied to the second inlet whereby the controlled oxygen concentrated aerosol may be transmitted from the chamber to the patient utilization device. 

1. In combination with an aerosol generator powered by source of compressed air and used in the treatment of respiratory disease, the aerosol generator having an aerosol chamber having a medicated fluid therein, the improvement in the generator to permit delivery of controlled oxygen concentrations with high humidity comprising: a first inlet to the aerosol chamber extending into said medicated fluid, said inlet being connected with the source of compressed air to provide a primary aerosol in the aerosol chamber, said aerosol having a high humidity and initial low oxygen concentration due to the oxygen content of the compressed air; a second inlet to the chamber above the level of the fluid in the chamber, said inlet being connected with a supply line from a controllable source of oxygen wherein the oxygen concentration of the aerosol in the aerosol chamber may be increased in proportion to the amount of oxygen supplied to the second inlet; an oxygen adapter element having a lower portion for slidable insertion in said second inlet to protrude into the aerosol chamber and an upper portion to cooperatively interconnect with the source of oxygen supply line, said adapter element having a bore therethrough providing communication between the source of oxygen and the aerosol chamber wherein oxygen is delivered direct to the aerosol chamber to mix with the primary aerosol; seal means about said lower portion to engage said second inlet and provide an airtight seal between said oxygen adapter element and the aerosol generator; and an outlet from the chamber connected with a conduit interconnected with a patient utilization device, said outlet being in communication between the aerosol chamber and the conduit whereby the controlled oxygen concentrated aerosol may be transmitted from he chamber to the patient utilization device.
 2. In combination with an aerosol generator powered by a source of compressed air and used in the treatment of respiratory disease, the aerosol generator having an aerosol chamber having a medicated fluid therein, the improvement in the generator to permit delivery of controlled oxygen concentrations with high humidity comprising: a first inlet to the aerosol chamber extending into said medicated fluid, said inlet being connected with the source of compressed air to provide a primary aerosol in the aerosol chamber, said aerosol having a high humidity and initial low oxygen concentration due to the oxygen content of the compressed air; an outlet from the chamber connected with a conduit interconnected with a patient utilization device; an adapter member for cooperative engagement with the aerosol generator outlet, said adapter member having a passage therethrough and providing communication between the aerosol chamber and the patient utilization device; a second inLet being formed in said adapter member, said inlet being connected with a supply line from a controllable source of oxygen; and tube means extending from said second inlet through the passage and into the aerosol chamber and terminating above the level of the fluid in the chamber providing communication between the source of oxygen and the aerosol chamber wherein oxygen is delivered direct to the aerosol chamber to mix with the primary aerosol wherein the oxygen concentration of the aerosol in the aerosol chamber may be increased in proportion to the amount of oxygen supplied to the second inlet whereby the controlled oxygen concentrated aerosol may be transmitted from the chamber to the patient utilization device. 